Blogging about what I'm cooking. Not as much deep-fried stuff anymore, but hey, it's a catchy name.

Cheesy Butternut Squash Muffins

There are so many delicious combinations that come to mind when I think of muffins. Lemon and poppyseed, apple and cinnamon, chocolate chip and more chocolate chips...and butternut squash and feta?! I've never made savory muffins before, but I looked at the ingredients for this recipe and realized I liked everything that was in them so I decided to make them. They came out pretty good, although it's still an adjustment for me to eat muffins and not have them be sweet.

Cheesy Butternut Squash MuffinsIngredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and cut into approximately half-inch cubes – you should have about 2 cups

a sprinkling of salt and pepper

a couple of handfuls of spinach, washed and chopped

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

¾ cup crumbled (in large crumbles) feta cheese

2 teaspoons of whole grain mustard (German style)

2 eggs

¾ cup milk (I might also try this again with buttermilk, just for kicks)

2 cups regular flour (I bet you could also use a gluten-free flour blend with good results)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons salt

coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat your oven to 425F.

Toss the squash cubes with the olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in the oven, stirring them up a couple of times, until they are tender through (easily pierced with a fork – I usually take one out, blow on it, and taste it to see if it’s done), and getting a little golden brown on the outside, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Turn the oven down to 405F.

Grease a muffin tin well with oil or butter.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together about two-thirds of the squash, the spinach, Parmesan, and ½ cup of the feta.

In a small bowl, beat together the milk, eggs, and mustard until well combined. Pour this into the bowl with the squash and spinach.

Sprinkle the flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt onto the squash and wet ingredients mixture. Gently stir this all together until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan – it will fill the holes pretty generously.

Sprinkle the tops of the batter-filled holes generously with freshly ground black pepper. Then, press the remaining feta crumbles and squash cubes gently into the tops of the batter.

Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into one comes out with no batter on it (it may come out with some melted feta on it, though!).

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of each muffin and gently use the knife to lift them out and on to a cooling rack.